


NieR: Humanity

by WrestleCrazyGamer



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2018-11-30 22:46:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11473236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrestleCrazyGamer/pseuds/WrestleCrazyGamer
Summary: -This story follows the aftermath of Route A, meaning Route C never happened-The YoRHa and Machines decide to use the genome left on the moon by humans to bring them back... a scientific venture that may or may not go horribly awry.





	1. Human

A full two weeks had passed since the battle with Eve. Thanks to Pascal mediating between the now disconnected machines, there was no longer a need for the Bunkers to remain in space. With it, the truth of humanity’s fate was revealed to all. The Commander then mentioned a facility on the moon containing the human genome among other things, and a scientific venture never before ventured or even thought feasible… the revival of the human race. A facility was built in the newly constructed HQ to look into it. Machine and Android scholars worked tirelessly trying to figure out the secrets to biology.

A long 200 years went by… and an unpleasant sound unfamiliar to everyone shattered the morning silence. In the depths of the laboratory, they’d done it, they’d given life to the first human to breathe in millennia. He was given the name “Angel” and code designation of “H1”. The Commander immediately called 2B and 9S to the lab chamber as she held the newborn gently stroking his head.

“2B and 9S reporting ma’am.” 2B told her.

“Isn’t he precious?” The Commander smiled at them bringing the infant closer to them.

“So this is the first human, huh? Does he have a name yet?” 9S asked.

“Angel. His code designation is H1, Human One.” The Commander answered.

“He’s adorable, isn’t he 2B?” 9S asked her.

“I guess… I knew human infants were small, but this small?” 2B criticized.

“2B, 9S, how would you like to be his parents?” The Commander asked.

“What?!” 2B exclaimed accidentally startling Angel forcing the commander to try and calm him down.

“A-Are we even qualified to be parents?” 9S asked.

“Commander, I’m meant for combat. I don’t know the first thing about parenthood. I must decline.” 2B told her.

“It’s an order, 2B.” The Commander giggled handing Angel to 9S.

“Pod, do we have manuals for taking care of kids in the database by chance?” 9S asked.

“Affirmative. Among the data stored to perform the proper research in artificial life construction, child rearing was among them in anticipation of successful development of human life.” the pod answered.

“Well, at the very least we won’t be in the dark…” 2B sighed.

“I know I can count on you two. Study up, because while we work to produce more humans you’ll have to be sure he grows up nice and healthy for when the breeding process begins.” The Commander smiled.

“So you’re aiming to make a girl next? Surprised they aren’t being named Adam and Eve.” 9S joked.

“That’s in terrible taste.” 2B sighed with a hand on her forehead.

“What? The first humans in biblical history were named Adam and Eve. What’s terrible about that?” 9S asked in confusion.

“She thought you were making a wisecrack about the commanders of the machines, Adam and Eve.” The Commander chuckled.

“Oh… I guess the thought didn’t even occur to me.” 9S spoke thinking on it.

“Anyway, first and foremost is procuring nursing milk for him as well as some form of clothing.” 2B told him.

“I’ll be requiring you two to upload your data more often too. Your pods are also going to record every major event with the baby so even if you don’t remember absolutely everything you have a reference.” The Commander told them.

After procuring the supplies, at least to last a little while, it was decided to keep Angel in 2B’s room. A crib that’d been built to gently auto-rock was then placed inside for him. Angel took an immediate liking to his new “mommy”. 2B would have liked him more if he didn’t reach for her visor every chance he got. She was visibly irked when he caught her off guard at nap time and refused to let go. She didn’t want to hurt him, so she put up with it. 9S thought it was adorable even if she made him try and get it back, which took a bit of coaxing.

As he began to grow, even 2B began to form a soft spot for him graciously accepting him calling her his mother. 9S still blushed a little when he called him dad. Under normal circumstances YoRHa units aren’t to show emotion, but he’s an exception as if he has no emotional stimulation then it may be very difficult for him to understand morality and other such principles. When he was able to start walking around they quickly learned they needed to keep him by their side at all times as he had a very intense curious side that drove him to go near anything he wasn’t familiar with, dangerous or worse.

When he became too big for his crib a special room was built in the bunker right next to 2B’s room for him to use. They had to learn how to make working plumbing too as he soon outgrew diapers. Slowly but surely human inventions were reappearing. It wasn’t long before there were even eco-friendly factories producing them for future creation of humans. The inventions of old combined with Angel’s curiosity awakened a love for machinery in him. He learned to read and speak before taking on normally very difficult mechanic books. He even extensively studied how his Android creators work and function.

Soon he began turning scrap into small machines that partially worked. His first success at the age of six was a bot that could walk backward, forward, and sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star horribly off key due to being a machine. Even the commander was baffled by his impressive ability to learn, adapt, and improve. This was how human ingenuity worked, it never started perfect but instead perfected itself with each failure. 9S praised his pursuit of knowledge, even if 2B occasionally had to tell him flat out what areas to avoid.

At eight years old he managed to completely reconstruct a fully functional pod unit from scrap and the frame of a busted pod he found in a pile of junk. It was almost scary how skilled he was for being so young. His skills continued to improve as did his inventions as well as technological revivals that also became more advanced.

One day while he was ten they couldn’t find him anywhere. Tracking couldn’t pick him up and nobody had seen him. A full search party was organized to search each area. In truth, he’d gone to the Abandoned Factory because he just couldn’t fight his curiosity anymore despite the warnings. He took his tools and his pod, which he lovingly named Denise, with him looking to find some old machinery he could take back to make a new invention with. He knew that there were still Corrupt Machines there, but was confident he could get away pretty easily.

“Angel, this area was restricted by 2B and 9S as well as the Commander.” Denise told him as he opened a door.

“Think of the things I could find in here though.” Angel smiled continuing his leisurely stride.

He looked around only finding Machine corpses for quite a while. When he found an elevator that wouldn’t open he short circuited the panel to make it unlock. Down, down, down he went in the elevator. Just for precautions he had Denise keep her taser beam on standby in case they need a getaway plan.

Once out of the elevator after reaching as low as it’d go, he saw an Android strikingly similar to 2B in appearance. It was none other than A2, even if Angel had no clue who that was. She looked pretty beat up and was breathing heavily. Her swords were broken at the guard too. He approached her and she started to growl.

“Are you hurt?” Angel asked.

“I’d hit you for that question if I could move right now…” A2 growled.

“Analysis: Multiple system failures in her main operating frame have caused her to lose all ability to move anything beyond her head. Proposal: Take her back to the Bunker for repairs.” Denise spoke.

“You will not…” A2 told him, but Angel had already begun trying to pull her along.

Eventually Angel got sick of tugging and found a cargo cart nearby to dump her in. With a pair of wheels under her, he now only had minor trouble getting her back to the surface. When they got to the stairs going down from where he got in he paused.

“What now, genius? I’ll run you over if you try taking me down those stairs.” A2 scoffed.

“Sorry, but I promise I’ll repair the damage.” Angel told her before pushing her cart down the stairs first making her ramp the end of the stairs smacking right into the wall.

When he got down to her she was livid but didn’t say a word. He carefully got her back in the cart and tugged her along. The hard part was getting her up the slope of the road leading to the factory. A2 was more vocal in her protests now that they were nearing the base, but he didn’t listen. He apologized again pushing her off the edge of the literal end of the road. After dusting her off and quickly getting her back in the cart he got her back to the Bunker and to his specially made mechanic workshop.

“Listen kid, I appreciate the thought but I’m not exactly welcome here.” A2 told him, but he ignored her using a crane to lift her onto the work table.

“Let’s get to work, Denise.” Angel spoke cracking his knuckles.

“Bunker Data Analysis complete. Caution: This unit is listed as highly dangerous, it is advised to destroy her.” Denise warned.

“People are only as dangerous as you make them out to be. You could call mom dangerous because she walks around with weapons but she’s really nice.” Angel scoffed plugging A2 into a support machine turning it on.

He then began to open her body despite her protests and examined her circuitry. A lot of the parts in her were old and worn out. It wasn’t hard to figure out why her system eventually gave in. She hadn’t had a software or hardware update in what seemed like years either. So he began removing parts.

“W-What are you doing?! I need those!” A2 barked.

“These parts are pretty much junk. You’ll be fine while you’re plugged into that, so shut up and let me update your parts.” Angel scolded.

“You can’t just put new parts in an older model, we aren’t compatible!” A2 barked, but he wasn’t listening and opened a large closet full of parts from small screws to full limbs.

“You will be.” Angel told her.

“Human Unit Angel is very experienced in unconventional overhaul. He found a way to triple the Bunker’s storage capacity through many trials and errors.” Denise told A2 as Angel began to plug extra cords into her.

“Now what are you doing?” A2 asked him.

“Merging your current operating system with the current model so that I can mix and match parts for all I care and you’ll still function properly.” Angel answered walking back to the closet to gather parts.

After she finished merging he began literally reconstructing her internals using a manual detailing her specific models’ structure. Just as he finished and closed her body the doors to the room were cut into pieces. 2B was standing there breathing heavily without her visor wearing a hybrid look of furious and worried. She walked to him and with great restraint to keep from slapping him fell to her knees hugging him tightly. She silently cried holding him.

“Analysis: Our venture to the Abandoned Factory resulted in all YoRHa units being dispatched in search of us. Proposal: Immediate apology is recommended.” Denise told Angel.

“You had me worried sick… no one saw you, n-no one even heard from you… and your pod’s tracking signal wasn’t working either…” 2B sobbed.

“I… found the danger siren in Denise’s tracker during routine maintenance… so I kind of turned it off so it wouldn’t give me away…” Angel admitted.

“I installed that for a reason…” 2B scolded.

“So they stuck you in charge of him…” A2 sighed sitting up unplugging herself.

“A2? Did you find and repair her?” 2B asked Angel.

“Replaced pretty much everything but her black box is more accurate, she couldn’t even move when I found her.” Angel answered.

“She’s a fugitive, you know that right?” 2B asked Angel.

“Does it matter if she deserted when we’re at peace now?” Angel asked.

“I guess not when you think about it…” 2B sighed putting a hand on Angel’s head.

“How do you know I only deserted? For all you know I could be a murderer or even a child predator.” A2 asked.

“Gut instinct. Even if you have killed people you had to have had a reason, right?” Angel asked back with an innocent smile that took A2 by surprise.

“You’re a strange kid. Well, I’m out of here.” A2 sighed before sneaking out of the base.

A few months passed after that incident. Angel was forbidden from turning off the tracking signal, and permanently had a YoRHa unit assigned to watch him when 2B and 9S took care of other errands. This would remain in effect until he turned sixteen and completed a training regime devised by 2B to make him more than capable of defending himself even against superior YoRHa units. He can kinda-sorta hold his own against a Scanner Model, 2B commended his ability to recognize he stood zero chance against a Combat Model without even attempting despite hoping he’d have at least tried. It seemed his favored weapon class were one-handed swords, so they at least got some data out of it.

On the day he turned twelve he was shown to his “potential partner”, Noel. She had long dark green hair and amber eyes and was dressed in a custom-fitted YoRHa Combat Model outfit. She had an emotionless look plastered on her face.

“Angel, this is Noel. She may be two years younger than you, but we’re confident when you two are of age that you’ll get along better than you will today. Go on Noel, you’ve been training for the day you were introduced, make a good first impression.” The Commander introduced them.

“I’m Noel, Human Unit 2 or H2 for short, parented by Combat Unit 10B and Scanner Unit 34S.” Noel spoke in a deadpan tone.

“Angel… uh… H1. 2B and 9S are my parents.” Angel nervously told her.

“Talk about a difference in upbringing.” 9S chuckled.

“Looking at how she stands it’s plainly obvious that she was given a YoRHa upbringing, whereas we chose to be lax with how strict his upbringing was.” 2B pointed out.

“By the way, Commander, what do you mean when you say potential partner?” Angel asked with a confused face.

“Well you see, we are still creating humans just to get a bit of a population going, but there’s a slight pothole in the road… we can’t figure out what we did to your genetics to make you male. So we’re currently running a 1 to 7 male-female ratio as a result, Noel being the first of those seven to be born. So we’d like to request a small blood sample to try and find the answer.” Pascal nervously chuckled.

“I won’t get sick from it this time will I?” Angel asked.

“We’ve since improved our human medical abilities, so we hopefully won’t make the same mistakes twice.” The Commander assured him.

It was storming that day when he was fourteen, when a new enemy presented itself. From overseas came alien ships long thought to have been all destroyed. Over a loudspeaker they demanded “Surrender or Genocide” from the Androids and Machines. When they also demanded they kill the humans, battle struck out. Machines that were all scarily more human than the ones indigenous to the continent dropped from the ships. They were all made of the same shiny silver alloy and had eerily human faces that could emote and laughed as they fought with odd mechanical abilities such as 360 body rotation without actually turning their legs around.

YoRHa and their Machine allies managed to make them retreat, but they left immense metal towers across the land boxing them into the areas they’ve known since the start of the war as a “parting gift”. With those heavily armed tower fortresses in place, no one was leaving to perform counter attacks anytime soon. This helplessness even had the Commander visibly in low spirits. That royally pissed off Angel, who saw it as giving up before even trying. He got Pascal and some YoRHa volunteers to go with him to the Abandoned Factory to clear it out and repurpose it, for what he didn’t reveal.

Once it was cleared in all areas, he began working on the machinery. In fact, he’d started overhauling the entire factory. He even busted down some of the buildings using the construction equipment of the factory so he could get more equipment to the crater in order to begin excavating the remains of alien ships underground. The Commander and Pascal had no clue what he was planning but had YoRHa units and Machines give him a hand nonetheless.

Time passed as Angel continued to modify the factory heavily. Eventually it looked almost completely different, a hybrid of its former self and alien technology. Angel had no clue how to read alien so he pretty much put the tech together through trial and error. He eventually got whatever he was devising working again. Using what seemed like scanners for the many assembly lines, he scanned every single individual part of the currently most advanced YoRHa Combat Models including the Black Box. To everyone’s amazement the factory roared to life and began producing replicated YoRHa parts before starting to assemble them.

“How is it getting everything to do that?” The Commander asked watching the parts go down the line.

“Don’t know. I turned it on and tossed something in to see what it did and it cloned whatever went through so long as it wasn’t organic matter. So the only thing it doesn’t clone is straight organic matter for some reason. So I could walk through and the only thing it’ll clone are my clothes.” Angel answered.

“So, are those functioning Black Boxes?” 9S asked gazing at that line in particular.

“They are. I designed that line very specially so there was no chance of them colliding with each other taking the factory up with them. The cloning devices seem to be able to replicate energy used to power devices too, so those come out of the machine ready for installation.” Angel explained.

“So, are they just mindless androids?” Pascal asked.

“Nah. I’ve got a special algorithm set up to read names from all over the old world and individually assign them. So we may have multiples of some names, but they’ll still be different units. The algorithm gives designations to tell them apart too.” Angel answered smugly.

“Human ingenuity is certainly a thing to be reckoned with…” 2B commented.

“It’s a wonder we were built by them.” The Commander chuckled.

“With this, we’ll have more hands to help fight off the enemy.” Angel sighed in satisfaction.

“We barely held up in that battle, but wouldn’t an upgraded model be better?” 2B asked.

“They used a quantity over quality strategy going by how many there were compared to our extremely low casualty count. So we’ll use their own strategy against them for now.” Angel answered.

“When they bring in stronger units?” The Commander asked.

“I’ll have a surprise waiting for them.” Angel smirked.

Angel had been constructing something in secret. Something to give humans a fighting chance in combat with machines. He was developing a special exosuit using an odd crystal found within the husks of the enemy machines to power it. It would enhance mobility, physical strength, and body durability. On top of it, it’d allow him to use special weaponry that’d greatly support the YoRHa units. For now, he only had a prototype suit and weapon that he’d been dying to try out…


	2. H8 - Miracle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angel gets introduced to the girls he's supposed to mate with. One of them gets his attention in particular.

Angel had Denise suit him up in the prototype to his exosuit, codenamed PAR for Physical Augmentation Rig. It looked more like a bodysuit due to its sheer size and how much it covers though. He’d have to work on improving mobility later due to its sheer weight, but the gem did its job on improving his physical strength and durability. He leapt down from high up and didn’t feel a thing, and afterward he punched through a wall with virtually no harm to himself.

“Scan Complete: Prototype power levels at 87%, no damage sustained to H1 from tests.” Denise informed him.

“All right. Let’s go test the MAC on the roof.” Angel sighed with satisfaction.

He proceeded there, and mounted on the roof was a colossal rail gun of sorts bearing a larger version of the gem in his suit. There was a gunner seat mounted onto the side for aiming. He sat it in putting earplugs in his ears and then put his right hand into the slot by him making the gem begin feeding dark purple energy into the two rails. He then took aim at one of the towers left by the enemy in the distant ocean.

“Charge at 50%... 60%... 70%... 80%... 90%... 95%... 100%, Charge Complete. Projectile was pre-loaded. Fire when ready.” Denise informed him also gesturing to fire in case he couldn’t hear.

“Here’s our parting gift.” Angel scoffed before pushing his arm in further making the cannon unleash a dark purple beam into the direction of the tower.

When the beam faded, it didn’t seem to do anything. Angel gestured to wait a moment, and then the tower exploded into a massive ball of energy and flames as pieces of the building scattered into the distant ocean. The two sections of the border keeping them trapped that were attached to that tower then vanished. Angel waited until after the sonic boom from the explosion went by to remove his earplugs. The light in his prototype suit then faded to a red color.

“Prototype power at 10%. Hypothesis: Using the Mounted Assault Cannon consumes the majority of the life in the gem it seems. Suggestion: Recharge the prototype for further tweaks and tests.” Denise told him.

“No doubt they’re going to ask about this one. I can already hear what mom’s going to say.” Angel sighed with a smile.

“That being?” Denise asked.

“The same thing she always says. ‘Angel you’re irresponsible, what if something went wrong and you got hurt? You need to be supervised’. How else does she lecture me?” Angel chuckled.

“Angel! That was completely irresponsible! What if the factory couldn’t handle the kickback of that blast?!” 2B’s voice roared from a lower floor.

“Called it.” Angel snickered as she and 9S got to the roof.

“What are you wearing?” 9S asked.

“A PAR, or Physical Augmentation Rig. It… in theory puts me on par with the latest YoRHa Combat Unit in terms of physical strength and speed. I’m still working on the speed…” Angel replied.

“...and the cannon?” 2B asked tapping her foot.

“That’s a MAC, Mounted Assault Cannon. It uses energy from the gems in our enemies like the exosuit, only to unleash hell.” Angel replied.

“It isn’t like anyone had any better ideas than risk ourselves raiding the towers to turn off the barriers.” 9S shrugged.

“It was still risky and reckless. He could have blown himself up or worse if it went wrong.” 2B scolded.

“I actually use small test models before I scale up. The gems don’t go volatile when pressed either. They do become ice cold when they’re out of energy though.” Angel told her.

“See, 2B? He knows what he’s doing.” 9S assured her.

“Still. He’s the only of-age male human. If something happens to him, the females will be far older than the next male.” 2B sighed.

“Come on, mom, we know you really care.” Angel laughed.

“I mention the females because you’ve been scheduled for a full introduction. You need to return to HQ… but leave that suit behind.” 2B ordered him.

“I need to charge it anyway.” Angel shrugged.

“Suit Power: 6%.” Denise informed him.

“I know, I’m going.” Angel laughed before heading to his workshop.

He hooked up the prototype to an energy generator, and then made his way to HQ. Once there the commander had him bathe and put on fresh clothes, to look presentable. That was what tipped him off that his clothes and body were stained with sweat and grease from working with machinery all day. After cleaning up, he entered the combat chamber. Six other girls and Noel were in a line standing at attention wearing YoRHa combat uniforms. He rode the lift down with the commander and looked along the line seeing they were all roughly the same height except for the one at the end of the line that seemed a few years younger than the rest.

“Girls, introductions! As you rehearsed!” the commander barked making them sense up.

“Noel, H2, 16.” Noel sighed as she and Angel were already acquainted.

“Sakuya, H3, 16. I excell with two-handed swords.” the girl next to Noel with long green hair put in a ponytail introduced herself.

“Freya, H4, 15, and a prolific spear user.” the next girl with bobbed red hair introduced herself with a salute.

“Crystal, H5, 15, I prefer two-handed axes to anything else!” the next girl with long golden hair energetically introduced herself.

“Luna, H6, 14, I’m not a bad shot with rifles I guess.” the gloomy girl with shoulder-length purple hair introduced herself.

“Terra, H7, 14, I prefer to crush my foes with a giant hammer.” the next girl with cut short black hair introduced herself.

“M-Miracle, H8, 10… I-I’m not much good at anything yet… I-I’m sorry to inform you of that.” the shortest girl with long platinum blonde hair in a ponytail panickedly introduced herself.

“These women, when they’re of age, will be your breeding partners to propagate the human race with. I suggest maintaining friendly relationships with them.” the commander smiled.

“What’s propagate mean?” Angel asked Denise.

“Answer: To spread widely. In the current context, you will mate with these seven to make children who will be the future of the human race. You are the first male, making you the Alpha who has such rights.” Denise told him.

“Never been an Alpha before.” Angel shrugged.

“You’ve always been the Alpha Male, since you’re the first. Which brings me to my secondary news, we figured out what made you male. It has to do with certain genes during the fetal development stage. Using the samples we’ve gotten from you, we now have a way of constantly making males. Humanity’s genetic diversity is now assured.” the commander told him.

“Cool. Can I leave now?” Angel asked.

“You haven’t even introduced yourself to these lovely girls.” the commander giggled, meaning he wasn’t leaving yet.

“Fine… do I have to the same way they did?” Angel asked.

“The situation indicates so.” Denise replied.

“Angel, H1, 17. I’m not too bad with a one-handed sword. I’m also the one who developed those metal fanny-packs you’re wearing so weapons float close to you just like the YoRHa units.” Angel introduced himself.

“You made these?! Awesome!” Crystal exclaimed excitedly.

“He’s behind a lot of the technology we have right now. Think of anything he makes for you girls to use as a gift from a significant other. He’s also the reason our medical facilities for you girls are so advanced. You could say while you’ve been busy training he’s been busy innovating new machines from the old ones in humanity’s past.” the commander explained.

“So the Angel Special and Angel Special Mk2 swords are his doing as well?” Sakuya asked examining her swords.

“Indeed. He’s made himself excel in nearly every field and become quite the handyman with tools. He’s even repaired some YoRHa units all by himself.” the commander praised.

“So he’s a supporter instead of a fighter.” Noel sighed shaking her head.

“Sorry if this broke any fantasy you had of fighting side by side. He is who he is.” the commander chuckled.

“I’ll live.” Noel scoffed.

“What’s up her butt?” Crystal whispered to Luna.

“Probably disappointed but doesn’t want to show it.” Luna whispered back.

“Be silent.” Sakuya growled at them.

“Girls, you’re in his presence.” the commander colded.

“I’m not expecting them to be soldiers or proper ladies all the time. You know, let ‘em breathe now and again. We aren’t like YoRHa units you know.” Angel told the commander.

“So their training is flawed?” the commander asked.

“Pretty much if you’re making them act like YoRHa units that can breed. They need some time to themselves to develop other skills besides eliminate the target. It’s pretty standard stuff according to the records. I figured everyone had read them.” Angel replied.

“I see. I’ll see to it we change their regime a bit. The last thing we need is a fight to break out again.” the commander told him.

“Again?!” Angel exclaimed in shock.

“Between us, Noel and Sakuya are prone to throwing punches. Those two have never gotten along for some reason.” the commander whispered to him.

Angel became slightly more aware of his fellow humans at HQ from that day forward. Now that he thought about it, he had definitely passed them a few times as a small child. Why hadn’t it clicked in his head until then? It dwelled in his mind as he kept making new prototypes to the PAR system. It got the best results when placed directly along the spine, but it kept sliding. Then it came to him, make it part of a shirt or something!

The only thing he had around at the time were machine corpses, so he took the torso of one and began to pound it into shape with Denise’s help for mistakes he made. He then began to install the PAR into the spine of the newly made body armor. The electromagnetic signals sent from it to his spine should stimulate his body to act much quicker than normal. That didn’t do anything for the agility though… and got his stumped.

“Hypothesis: It is okay to be inferior to the YoRHa units.” Denise told him.

“I want to be of some help to them though. They brought us back from extinction, and now they’re forced to fight again when they’re already worn out from fighting with the Machines.” Angel told her.

“Hypothesis: You can’t match their specifications without self-alteration… so make weapons that compensate your human fragility instead.” Denise told him, and that made an idea pop into his head.

He began working tirelessly on weapons of different types. He started incorporating the gems of their enemies. Doing so seemed to make the sharp edge of the weapons glow a bright purple. He installed miniature combustion engines to their guards with a gun trigger mechanism to give an extra kick when needed. The weapons led him to suspect the gem’s ability to give defensive abilities could still be useful.

He worked for days making weapon prototypes and special defense armor prototypes. The PAR would live on if it killed him. By the time he had good enough prototypes built that he realized something very important… he had absolutely no means of testing and getting data from the ones that weren’t one-handed swords. That gave him an idea… the girls. They’d be substantial help in getting data. So he gathered some of the better prototypes and returned to HQ. After a strong shower, at 2B’s command while pointing out how filthy he was, he made his way to the training room where all but Miracle seemed to be sparring.

“What brings you here, H1?” their instructor asked.

“I’ve got some new weapons for the girls to try out for me. I need to find out what I have to improve, but I don’t know how to use these to get effective data.” Angel replied.

“I see. Girls! Stop for a moment!” she barked at them making them stumble mid-attack colliding with each other.

“Now what…?” Noel growled holding her head.

“Your assistance is needed. Try out these weapons so in the future H1 can continue to provide better quality weapons.” the instructor explained.

“What’s wrong with our current weapons?” Sakuya asked, and Noel readily grabbed the long sword cutting Sakuya’s greatsword in two with a single swing.

“You have my cooperation.” Sakuya growled grabbing the new greatsword giving dagger eyes at Noel.

“They’re at it again.” Crystal giggled.

“You even made a rifle?” Luna asked looking it over.

“You don’t have to worry about reloading with that, but I’d pace your shots carefully because you can overheat the concentrator.” Angel replied.

The girls, with the exception of Miracle, began to try out their new weapons. The skies became clouded by a storm as the day went by. Those clouds cloaked enemy ships. They dropped troops as soon as they were over the compound. These robots were more advanced than the ones they’d fought before. They were better made and wielded better weapons. Even with a wellspring of numbers the YoRHa and Machines were having severe trouble keeping them back.

“What do we do?” Miracle whimpered looking out from HQ.

“We’ve been training for a situation like this. Let’s cleave some metal apart.” Noel scoffed.

“For once we agree on something.” Sakuya smirked.

“Charge!” Crystal exclaimed.

All but Miracle and Angel rushed into battle. Their weapon’s ability to cut through metal like a hot knife through butter made countering and finishing enemies a piece of cake. They had the edge and effectively were saving YoRHa and Machines left and right. By the time the last enemy fell, over 200 YoRHa units and Machines had fallen due to the surprise attack. A good thing they back up to servers making death a minor inconvenience for them.

“Angel. Can you mass produce those weapons?” the commander asked him.

“Probably.” Angel shrugged.

“With our production lines focused on YoRHa and Machine parts, we will need to construct another to accommodate new items.” Denise told him.

“Well I guess we better get started then.” Angel chuckled.

“You’re amazing…” Miracle told him.

“Hmm?” Angel spoke looking at her.

“Your talent makes everyone else better at their talent… I don’t have one… I was useless.” Miracle told him.

“You’re still a little girl. You’ve got plenty of time to figure out what you’re good at.” Angel smiled gently patting her head.

“Can I go with you to the factory…?” she asked with quivering eyes.

“I might get in trouble with her parents… what do you say, Denise? Should we?” Angel asked her.

“Checking Privileges of H8. Check complete. Privileges restrict leaving the HQ compound.” Denise replied.

“So I can’t go…?” Miracle pouted.

“HQ is a bit of a mess though… so it might be better to take her where she can freely take her mind off the previous battle.” Angel reasoned.

“Do you plan to ignore the Privileges Protocol?” Denise asked.

“Only this once.” Angel replied.

“Then you will be responsible for her safety.” Denise told him.

“I can go?” Miracle asked.

“Yeah. You have to listen to what I tell you though, it’s for your safety while we’re there.” Angel smiled.

Angel carefully led Miracle to the Factory then. He had to lift her up the jumps, which made it take a bit longer than usual. They do lack the vertical jump of a YoRHa unit after all and Miracle is the youngest human. She was really lightweight too, making lifting her easy.

“H1… how come you don’t fight?” Miracle asked nervously.

“Angel is fine. I don’t fight because fighting has never interested me. I always preferred learning how things work over learning to make them cease to work. Mom couldn’t believe how little I liked training.” Angel replied.

“So it’s okay… to not like fighting…” Miracle spoke to herself.

“Do you not like training?” Angel asked her.

“I-It’s scary most days. Mama’s so strict… papa never says anything… and then she makes me spar with the other girls, who don’t hold back even the slightest. I go back to my room with bruises and cuts a lot because of it.” Miracle replied nervously.

“That is the standard YoRHa training regime.” Denise told them.

“Well, maybe you’re more inclined to the technical side of things. Not everyone is a fighter, and I’m a prime example of that.” Angel suggested.

“You think so?” Miracle asked.

“It’s all about your head. Do you think ‘how did this work’ or ‘how do I make this work’ when you see something old or broken?” Angel asked.

“I’ve never thought about it…” Miracle replied with a finger on her chin.

“If you want I can try teaching you in a few weeks what took me ten years. The first step to changing someone’s opinion of you is proving them wrong to their face.” Angel offered.

“Will it hurt?” she asked nervously.

“Depends. Occasionally your hand slips and hits a sharper part, but otherwise your hands should come out unscathed. You should be prepared for your hands to get pretty messy due to the grease though.” Angel chuckled.

“I can just wash grease off my hands right?” Miracle asked.

“Yeah. You have to use a special soap I revived from the first reign of humanity to get it off though.” Angel replied with a smile.

“Shall I boot up the tutorials you use as a child?” Denise asked.

“Nah, those were super boring and kinda skipped the essentials. I’ll teach her the way I figured most of it out.” Angel replied.

He then put her gloves in a small box and put a work apron over her outfit so it didn’t get covered in grease. After that he sat her down at a table and began teaching her the tools going over their names and jobs when repairing or improving machinery. After that he moved on to teaching her the anatomy of some machines. Occasionally he quizzed her on what tool would be good to use on something if it stopped working. She actually learned surprisingly fast, which reminded him of himself.

When evening began to come around she’d successfully made her own walking minibot that moved in all directions. He’d taught her some programming so it’d be smart enough not to fall off the table too. Sure enough, the excitement and effort of it all got her tired out having fell asleep at the bench. Angel quietly cleaned her hands, took her apron off, and began to carry her piggyback to HQ. He had to be careful with going back down the jumps so that he didn’t wake her accidentally. When he got in the compound Miracle’s mother, 67B, was there waiting.

“So you took off with her.” 67B scoffed.

“She’s actually quite the mechanic. I taught her some things and she picked them up like candy.” Angel told her.

“She’s a soldier.” 67B scolded and he got in her face.

“You can’t decide that. She’s human, not a machine. We aren’t like YoRHa units who have unlimited chances. You die, you backup your data into a new body. When a human dies, they’re gone for good. We don’t get second chances. Don’t make someone who isn’t suited for it do it. That makes you a murderer if she dies.” Angel shot back staring right into her visor.

“Noted.” 67B growled walking off.

“Suggestion: Perhaps we should apologize to her later.” Denise suggested.

“I’m not apologizing for the cold hard truth.” Angel scoffed.

Angel carried her into HQ and to his room. He tucked her into his bed and sat down by the side. He let out a mighty yawn as 2B entered.

“You brought H8 home? She’s a bit young isn’t she?” 2B asked.

“Very funny. The way 67B is raising her is liable to get her killed. So I’m going to prove to her that being a soldier isn’t the way to go with her future.” Angel replied.

“You realize we were given parental responsibilities for a reason, right? How they choose to raise them is their choice.” 2B scolded.

“Well then I’m intervening into how Miracle is being raised before it’s too late for her.” Angel told her.

“Do you know how she got her name?” 2B asked.

“Nope.” he bluntly replied.

“She was named Miracle because she barely survived infancy. Something went wrong with her development that caused her to be what’s referred to as a ‘runt’. According to data we recorded from each of your births, she should at least be a good five inches taller by this age. I’m sure you noticed that there is very little height difference between you and Noel, who is just a year younger than you.” 2B informed him.

“Come to think of it, there is a gap between her age and Terra’s. Did the production not work for a while?” Angel asked.

“We learned that any attempt to produce humans in a large group was met by a harsh decline in successfully developed infants, so we’re forced to go one by one. Miracle managed to pull through her year’s batch, hence her name, and only recently we finally succeeded in getting our second male, H9.” 2B replied.

“So you’re hoping once the girls are old enough that will no longer be true, huh? That’s a lot of kids…” Angel remarked.

“All for the resurrection of mankind.” 2B smiled.

“Wasn’t YoRHa’s old mantra ‘Glory to Mankind’ or something?” Angel asked.

“At one point. I’d say it’s ‘Revival to Mankind’ now though. The commander says we’ll likely be using that base genome for another ten or eleven generations, even with you kids breeding, to promote genetic diversity and all that. You understand.” 2B replied.

“Yeah. If Miracle’s backstory is really true, then all the more reason to make sure she isn’t forced into a career field she won’t last long in.” he told her.

“I’ll talk to 67B about it. If she won’t see reason, I’ll go higher.” 2B sighed shaking her head.

“Thanks mom.” Angel smiled.

When morning came Angel made sure Miracle received a full breakfast healthy for a girl her age. After a shower he led her to his workshop where he’d teach her how to do maintenance on a YoRHa unit. The unit that came in… was 24S, Miracle’s appointed father. His arm looked to be completely disfigured and was seized in that position.

“Guess that battle has everyone in need of repairs.” Angel sighed.

“Papa…” Miracle whined staring at his arm.

“I’ll be alright, Miracle. Angel’s fixed worse.” 24S told her with a smile.

“I have. I’ve managed to salvage a body with its limbs gone and internal damage on top of it. I’ll make sure you learn to the best of my ability to teach.” Angel assured her.

He had 24S lay on the table, lowered it so Miracle got a good view, and got to work. He thoroughly explained each step and its importance as he did it. Before Miracle knew it, he was done and performing calibrations with 24S. The quickness of his work amazed her beyond comprehension. Angel wasn’t just talented at this, he excelled.

“See? All better.” 24S smiled at her.

“Papa, I wanna be a mechanic like Angel.” Miracle told him.

“I heard you had been learning a few things from him. Whatever you choose to do, I’ll support you.” he assured her.

“Mama isn’t too happy about it.” Miracle sighed.

“Well let me handle her. She’s only been trying to make you tougher than you were at birth.” 24S told her gently patting her head.

That evening she went back to her actual room with 24S. Angel felt confident in how her parent encouraged her decision. Miracle had a genuine smile on her face. Angel hoped that she’d be able to see eye to eye with her mother. The next morning instead of a combat uniform, Miracle was wearing a support uniform normally worn by the S series.

“Mama said this was easier to wash if it gets dirty working with greasy machine parts.” Miracle giggled.

“Well then, your official training begins today. Hope you don’t mind on-the-job learning, because I have quite the que for repairs due to the previous battle.” Angel smiled patting her head.

Miracle was now under Angel’s wing. He is a master of mechanics, and has a lot to teach her. He will have to teach her to defend herself at some point though, regardless of their job details. Just over the horizon… the enemy is lying in wait...


	3. Dawn of Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enemy ships descend from the heavens in an assault unlike what they faced before. Angel takes a gamble to save the ones he cares about.

It was early morning as Angel and Miracle set out for the factory. Everything seemed fine at first. They started work on various machines, Angel teaching her how they worked and how to disassemble then reassemble. An explosion alarmed them to the assault. An enemy warship was overhead. This time he had no choice but to take it out. He got into the PAR suit and hurried to the roof. He got in the MAC and took aim. He fired and the ship exploded in a ball of flame as the beam continued into the air.

Doing so had completely drained the suit of power, so it took him a bit to get it back to the charging station. When he got back outside his eyes widened in horror… as four more ships descended through the clouds. They began dropping machines down to the ground as turrets began to open fire. Angel was out of options now. He needed to do something about the ships. Some machines were descending on wing devices, so he leapt onto one as it passed and made for town. It twirled around flailing as he kept attempting to hack into it.

“Angel!” 2B called in horror as he finally took over his ride using its wiring to steer it.

“I’ve got it under control! Sort of!” Angel called back managing to make his unwilling ride start to fly back up to a ship.

“He’s going to get himself killed!” 9S panicked.

Angel was aiming straight for the hangar of the enemy ship’s apparent leader. The doors started closing making him push the machine’s wings to their limit. He narrowly made it inside by leaping from his ride as he approached the hangar after noticing there wasn’t clearance for both of them. He drew his blade and took out several guard bots that came at him before beginning his stealthy infiltration. Using the darkness the pipes above the corridors gave him, he went looking for a control room of some sort.

After a few minutes of sneaking he noticed a skinny humanoid robot rolling along on skate feet. They were in a hurry, which told Angel they were important. He carefully but quickly followed the robot to a room labeled “Bridge”. He snuck inside to find the lights were all out except for the computer monitors, which seems to have no one monitoring them. He didn’t like it one bit, even more when the door slammed shut behind him and the lights came on.

He looked forward and to his shock a woman with very long white hair wearing a sparkling purple V-neck dress, knee-length purple heeled boots, and shoulder-length purple gloves. She had a martini glass with an odd blue fluid in it and was digging her heel into the back of the skinny robot’s head.

“It’s so hard to get good help these days…” she scoffed with a smile on her face before sipping her drink.

“There’s no way one person is piloting this thing…” Angel growled.

“No… one person is piloting all four of these ships.” she giggled.

“Who are you?” Angel asked.

“Call me an ‘evolved human’. I’ve become one with machine and flesh, and have ascended to a realm that far surpasses anything humanity was ever capable of.” the woman replied.

“There’s no way in hell that you’re human.” Angel growled.

“How rude… I’m merely keeping those idiotic androids from bringing back an obsolete species. You, however, interest me… how can an obsolete version of me be so creative?” she mused finishing her drink.

“It’s called I’m actually human… you’re just an imitation from the looks of it.” Angel growled making her crush her martini glass in anger.

“You are inferior!” she roared charging him only to be run through by his sword making her freeze in place.

“I’m human. You’re not. It’s like my mom said… machines can’t truly understand how humans work, because humans are an unsolvable variable. We can change our minds at a moment’s notice, choose a path not defined by what’s in front of us, and most important… make a way out of an inescapable situation.” Angel lectured before kicking her off his sword.

“What do you know… swords really do hurt.” she laughed as she stood up ignoring the large hole in her otherwise flawless body.

“You aren’t dying… that proves you aren’t human.” Angel told her taking a step back.

“No… I just don’t require as much blood as you do. I can survive with as little as a quart of blood in my body and only a quarter of the organs to function properly.” the woman giggled stroking the lips of her wound as if it were an orifice.

“Then I’ll have to take your head off.” Angel growled before tackling her starting a tussle with her as the skinny robot panicked trying to get out of the way.

Their tussle mostly consisted of punching and kicking continually changing the direction that Angel’s sword was going. They smashed computers and pieces of equipment causing the skinny robot to panic trying to stabilize them. She eventually knocked his sword away and the fight turned into a brawl continuing to damage the bridge. One of the terminals they crashed into during their fight causing red lights to flash and alarms to go off.

“NEURO PILOT SYSTEM DAMAGED. REVERTING TO MANUAL CONTROL SYSTEMS. PILOT BOT SPEECH REACTIVATED.” the computer system spoke.

“My Lady! You aren’t keeping the ships afloat anymore!” the skinny robot screamed.

“What?!” she exclaimed before taking another fist to the jaw making her spin into her chair busting the stem causing her to fall face first onto the floor.

At that moment the ship began to tilt forward as more alarms went off. On the visual scan the pilot bot brought up they saw the ship was nose diving toward the wasted part of the city. The minute the door to the bridge opened Angel made like a monkey and climbed. He used the walls as floor to look for an exit. Eventually he found his way to the hangar, which showed the doors had been blown open. He quickly pried off the harness on a winged machine and hacked in making it fly out. The intense turbulence from the ship made him lose control and start spiraling out of control. He blacked out near the ground, and when he opened his eyes ash was falling down around him.

“What happened…?” he asked groaning as he managed to sit up.

He tried to stand and a wince of pain made him fall back down. He looked at his left arm and was horrified to see his hand bending in a way hands aren’t meant to bend with pieces of bone sticking out of his forearm.

“That’s gonna leave a scar or two…” he nervously chuckled before carefully attempting to stand again.

He also felt like part of his right knee had shattered causing him to limp a bit as he walked. Once he got into the open he saw the wreckage of the ship and smoke clouds in the distance indicating the other three ships had also gone down. It was a miracle that he was alive. Speculating where home was based on the direction the ship wreckage was facing, he began to limp hoping a YoRHa scout would find him.

“Going somewhere, filth?!” the woman’s voice screamed making him slowly groan escalating into a scream of frustration as he weakly turned around to the woman crawling from the wreckage with serious flesh burns and injuries also showing her dress burned almost to nothing exposing black lingerie beneath.

“My Lady, you shouldn’t pick a fight in your condition!” the pilot bot spoke running up the slope of the crater carrying her left foot.

“I don’t care! The obsolete must go! I’ll rip out his throat myself!” she screamed crawling furiously toward Angel.

“All I need is one hand to finish you by now…” Angel groaned.

“Restrain her but don’t kill until the commander has gotten the chance to interrogate her.” the voice of mercy spoke as YoRHa units landed and bound her.

Angel turned around and there were 2B and 9S, in full “Assault” uniform. They didn’t say anything and put him on a stretcher. 2B and 9S personally carried him back to base for treatment. Miracle was very glad that he was safe, despite his injuries. The other girls were more passive toward his safe return. The commander then came to see him…

“What you did was extremely reckless. You could have been killed or worse. You have no idea how much of a scare you gave us.” she scolded him.

“I don’t regret it. If I’d gone down in flames, I’d have gone down keeping the people I care about safe.” Angel told her.

“If you’d died an idiot’s death?” she asked.

“I died choosing to fight for the people I care about.” he replied.

“You’re very smart… but you’re such an idiot…” she sighed.

“What can I say? It’s what makes me human…” Angel chuckled.

“I know… and what’s more you managed to impress Noel with your suicide mission.” the commander sighed.

“Impress her?” he asked.

“The consensus with the girls, other than Miracle who seemed worried sick about you, was that you were… as they put it… a mega nerd. Apparently your affinity with machinery is off putting to their military upbringing. Noel thought you’d hide behind your creations in the factory, but you took the fight right to them. Who’d have thought it too, you guessed which one had the ship’s commander on it.” the commander explained.

“Speaking of her… what’d you get out of her?” he asked.

“Well… she’s an ‘evolved human’ or whatever delusional thing she said she was. We wound up treating her injuries or else we’d have risked losing her to blood loss. According to her testimony, she can function on far less than what a regular human would need. Her brain can also apparently control over 1,000 robots at once as well as simultaneously pilot up to six of those flying dreadnaughts.” she replied.

“So I have a one in six chance of destroying their commander with each shot of my cannon… but in this case I guess it was one in five. I missed…” he chuckled.

“That brings us to the our big problem… her robot friend sand like a bird… without us even knowing it, we’ve been surrounded by the enemy the entire time. From the war to reviving humanity… there’s always been a third party watching us. Our prisoner… is only one of hundreds of ‘evolved humans’.” the commander told him.

“You’re kidding me…?” he groaned.

“I wish I could say I was… but he gave us proof. Actual data files containing images of their civilization. Who we apparently took down was the 3rd Fleet, according to him.” she sighed.

“...Out of how many fleets?” Angel asked dreading her answer.

“Over 50.” she sighed.

“I can’t exactly suicide run each commanding ship either…” Angel groaned.

“Let us handle it. You rest and recover.” the commander ordered with a smile before leaving the room.

Elsewhere another ship was hovering high above the area. The commander within was a tall masculine man with short white hair. He wore a military-esque black and white uniform. Working the computers were robots of female design. On the view screen was a replay of Angel’s brawl with the evolved human woman.

“That twit managed to live through the crash as well… on top of it her pilot bot revealed who we are. I love how some people just can’t listen to and follow very simple instructions.” he sighed.

“What should we do, My Lord?” his apparent pilot bot asked as she knelt.

“Nothing. Leave the insubordinate fools to their fates. We report the 3rd Fleet was destroyed in a foolish attempt to defy orders, no survivors were found.” he replied.

“If they return a message saying they lived?” the pilot bot asked.

“They eluded our scout teams, so there was naught that we could do at the time. Now, get us out of here before that human’s cannon blasts us out of the sky. No doubt he can probably detect us as well if he can pierce our most advanced shields in a single blast.” he replied with a less than amused expression.

“Yes sir!” the robots replied in unison beginning to input commands to the computers.

“Angel, eh…? You make me wonder… are we missing something crucial to being considered true humans after all…?” he mumbled to himself.


	4. Noel's Choice

Noel overheard the commander talking with Angel. She made herself scarce before anyone could spot her once the commander was ready to let him rest. She decided to seek out her mother unit to ask for some independance, something she had never done before. She eventually found 10B on watch at the perimeter wall.

“10B, permission to speak.” Noel requested.

“Granted.” she nodded.

“I wish to develop social skills beyond being a soldier. That way I can be more casual with my future partner when in private.” Noel told her.

“Does he not fancy a strong and proud soldier?” 10B asked her.

“He has been… off put by my serious nature and inability to understand jokes and figures of speech many times in the past. I thought he was serious once and punched his gut. If I wish to get closer to him I must change my private personality from a soldier to a human being.” Noel replied.

“You do not need to change yourself just for him. Love is not necessarily needed when reproduction is involved.” 10B told her.

“I disagree, ma’am. Love and intimacy are crucial to forming a bond between two humans.” 15B, the soldier on guard with 10B at the time, piped up.

“She’s a soldier.” 10B growled at her.

“I’m a human.” Noel spoke up making her glare at her.

“What did you say?” 10B asked.

“I’m a human soldier. Not a machine. I have emotions. I have needs. I have desires. You can’t change that no matter how much you hammer it into my head that I’m a soldier.” Noel replied with a dead serious expression.

“Are you standing up to me…?” 10B growled getting in her face.

In the past, this was enough to break Noel’s nerve. She’d always been unable to go against her word. She made every choice for her. It always caused tension with the other girls as well. Angel lived however he liked, although he was often punished when he disobeyed something that was to keep him safe. Miracle joined him in carving her own path, taking lessons in machine repair from him in the process. It was time she carved her own path too…

“Yes. I’m done doing everything you say. I am Noel! Not, YOU!” she exclaimed standing her ground.

“It’s about damn time you built a soldier’s spine.” 10B narrowed her eyes.

“Excuse me?” Noel asked taken by surprise.

“My goal was to make you a soldier in the hopes you would be anyone you chose to be with the resolve to leave what others expected in the dust. Don’t let your will break. If you want him to notice you, by god, you’re going to give it your best shot.” 10B smiled.

“I intend to.” Noel nodded.

“Go. Find what interests you. Develop yourself. That will be your training from today on.” 10B ordered her.

“Yes, 10B… no… mother.” Noel saluted before hurrying off.

She started with data files going over common behavior recorded from watching Angel as he grew. What was it like to act like a normal human? What was normal? All she could really determine from the files was that curiosity and experimentation were part of the human thought process. If something was dangerous, humans learned to avoid it by trial and error. If something was a resource, humans had to learn how to use it. Angel and Miracle made this look so easy when she looked back on it…

“Who am I beyond a soldier…? Why does being human have to be so hard and confusing…?” Noel asked herself.

“What’s so wrong with being a soldier with hobbies?” a voice spoke alerting her to 9S’s presence.

“It’s okay… to just be a soldier…?” Noel asked.

“Well, you’ve grown up only knowing how to be a soldier. There’s nothing wrong with still being a soldier, and you can easily diversify yourself despite remaining the same by finding a hobby that you love to do. Humans used to have thousands of them according to old history books. Some played sports, some made crafts, and some even got enjoyment out of hunting for trophy game such as deer or bears.” 9S explained.

“So… maybe changing to ‘be more human’ isn’t as complicated as I thought…” Noel sighed with a smile.

“Angel hasn’t quite grasped what he’s supposed to be doing as the alpha male to you girls though. I hope it gets through his head eventually… maybe he won’t pull such dangerous stunts like that as much.” 9S vented.

“Maybe he pulls those stunts because he knows he has people dear to him he wants to protect? He wouldn’t just go and do those stupid things for no reason would he?” Noel asked.

“I guess when you put it that way he’s a hero… also an idiot with no regard for his own safety...” 9S sighed with a slight smile.

“So I should focus on things only I can do is what you’re trying to tell me. Thank you.” Noel smiled at him.

“Not a problem. You also gave me some insight into why he ran that suicide mission without a second thought.” 9S smiled back.

A week went by as Noel studied hobbies and tried some out. None of them seemed to stick though. She was starting to get very frustrated. Noel still had a very faint grasp of comedy and metaphors as well. In the middle of the second week… she hit a nugget of clarity. Not a one of the girls knew the first thing about romance!

“That’s right… we’ve been told we have to propagate humanity… but when it comes down to romantic involvement we know nothing. There’s a plethora of romance novels and documentation in this library… so I’m going to study that and become well-versed in it. I’ll become the perfect ‘wife’ as this book calls it.” Noel smiled staring at the cover of a book labeled “Marriage Basics”.

Noel studied romance as much as possible, jotting down contradictions between sources, inconsistencies of information, and much more as she went. Some put an emphasis on obedience, others posed a more equal situation, and some even used compromise as its basis. Noel found that at a point in human history women weren’t treated as equals as well, ironic as the YoRHa units that are in power are female. 

“I’m not skilled enough to attempt ‘flirting’ as this book recommends… so I guess I’ll give ‘the direct approach’ a try as this one states it is useful for the more dense gentleman and the woman with problems expressing feeling through words…” Noel thought to herself.

She made her way to Angel’s medical bed only to find him missing and the nurse units scrambling to find him. Noel wasn’t about to give up so she joined the search. Using prior knowledge of Angel’s habits, there was a possibility he was there… the factory where he built his cannon. Once there, of course, she could hear the sound of tinkering on too great a scale for it to be Miracle alone. Angel was disregarding the fact he was still recovering to be working on another PAR prototype.

“You should be recovering.” she told him.

“If I’m well enough to be on my feet then I’m well enough to use a tool. I need this ready by the next attack.” Angel spoke.

“You’re pushing yourself too hard. We aren’t like machines or androids that need some fixes and they’re good. We need time to fully recover from injuries.” Noel lectured him.

“You’re going to try and tell me what I should be doing too?” he asked.

“Everyone is worried about you. You don’t seem to value your own life at all and it scares us.” Noel answered.

“You’re wrong. I do value my life. That’s why I do those stupid heroics… I have no intention of dying. I’m just doing what I think I should be doing.” Angel smiled at her.

“You’re going to get yourself killed that way.” Noel sighed.

“Maybe, but I’d rather go out fighting than just hide behind our robotic allies. The YoRHa and Machines can’t do everything, not forever, so we have to take a step up for our future. If we don’t then what was the purpose of reviving mankind in the first place?” Angel told her.

“Well… then how about letting me help you, so that step up doesn’t get you killed trying to do it all solo? Sure I don’t know all of the technical stuff, but you can’t be inventor and tester both. So let me test your prototypes.” Noel suggested while she hugged him from behind.

“You’d do that?” Angel asked.

“Yes. Not because I was ordered to. Not because we’re supposed to mate once we’re eighteen. I’m offering because I want to.” Noel smiled at him.

“I’ll take you up on that then.” Angel smiled.

Noel blushed grabbing Angel’s shirt collar and pulled him in for a kiss on the lips making Miracle blush covering her eyes peeking slightly. Noel tried to remember what her knowledge of love said to do to spice up a kiss, but she forgot it all and did what seemed right. Angel had absolutely no words when she finished.

“Now get back to the infirmary, I can’t help you test prototypes until you recover from your injuries.” Noel smiled.

“I can still work while recovering.” Angel tried to argue.

“You can go willingly or I can use my YoRHa training to take you there. Your choice.” Noel countered.

“Talk about twisting my arm…” Angel sighed.

“You didn’t even notice how worried Miracle was watching you work. Someone has to be situationally aware for you.” Noel smiled.

Noel then escorted Angel back to the infirmary. The Commander watched from afar with a smile. She found her answer in Angel’s faults. Even if he doesn’t realize it, he has a little trouble relying on others causing him to act on the spur of the moment. Noel aimed to be there for him, and in a way discovered what about Angel attracts her. 

“Are you sure it’s okay to allow this?” 2B asked her.

“Indeed. This is also for the future of mankind, you know. We interfere as little as possible to allow organic relationships to form between him and the girls. Intimacy comes naturally from there. At least that’s what a love novel I’ve been reading lately said.” the commander answered. 

“I somehow doubt those are a good source of relationship advice.” 2B commented.


	5. On PAR with the Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took way longer to write than I'd have liked, because life, but I managed to get the spare time to actually get to this one (out of my backlog of stories to get back to).

Angel was finally cleared to move about again after a full three months of recovery. The strange part was how there were no attacks in that time, which had the YoRHa and Machines on edge. Angel wanted to make up for lost time and packed up food to take with him to his development lab. He installed a shower and laundry room just so that 2B would get off his case about needing to clean up every time he came back. 

Three weeks went by as he continued trying to perfect the PAR. Most of the prototypes had a fatal flaw though. They couldn’t seem to hold out when applied to real combat situations. Either the frame was giving out or the gem disconnected for no apparent reason, sometimes both causing very minor injury to Noel. Angel seemed to be stumped incapable of fixing both problems that are holding it back.

“You’ll figure it out.” Miracle urged him on.

“What am I missing…?” Angel grumbled staring at the ceiling of the room.

On the ceiling were various blueprints of YoRHa models alongside some android prototypes of his own. Staring at the internal mechanisms of the YoRHa he began to space out. He seemed to stare at the skeleton structure in particular. The skeleton was simple but lacked structural stability on its own, so how can the YoRHa withstand the force of their combat regime? He continued to space out until something began to stick out to him… the nervous system. It was far simpler than a human’s, with links to stimulate what the brain chip needs to respond faster. Within the nervous system he spotted what was marked as “stability enhancement”. Was that always there? 

All at once he began to understand why he always failed to replicate a YoRHa unit with the same endurance as even the replicated units. Quick as a flash the proverbial idea bulb exploded, he had an epiphany! He drew up the blueprint in minutes and set to making the small scale versions. The first was the arms. Using clever shaping and material usage, he made what would look like ordinary black gauntlets with skin tight white sleeves attached to them. Hidden in the sleeves were the same stimulators found in the YoRHa units. The gauntlets themselves had the endurance modules found in the skeletons of YoRHa units installed, four per gauntlet. He then synced them to a master stimulator inside a simple black choker to wear around the neck so impulses sent through her nervous system from the brain will get express delivery. In theory it should result in reflexes and strength humans are normally incapable of. 

“Let’s give it a try. Punch the testing wall, as fast and hard as you can.” Angel instructed Noel as he activated the stimulators.

Noel readied to throw a punch as usual, and fully expected to hurt her hand like in the previous attempts. She let her fist fly with startling speed slamming her knuckles into the test wall leaving an indent of her fist with numerous fractures in the cement. She had to press with her other hand to get her punch hand free of its place in the wall causing it to fall over and break apart from the damage it received.

“Did you feel any pain?” Angel asked her as she flexed her fingers.

“My arm is tingling a little from the suddenly enhanced response time, but as far as actual pain goes I felt virtually nothing but recoil on contact. The gauntlet definitely helped soften the force I took too. It’s light and doesn’t inhibit my movement.” Noel replied bumping her knuckles together a bit.

“Suggestion: File this model as a successful PAR.” Denise spoke.

“Not just yet, Denise. This is just a piece of the PAR. We’ve still got the legs to make a successful model with. After that comes implementation testing with both at the same time to see if they play nice with the human body. After that I’ll devise lightweight protective armor to make the PAR complete as a full outfit.” Angel told her.

“Understood.” Denise responded.

“Just don’t make it look gaudy. If possible… I wouldn’t mind it looking like a variation of the standard combat attire.” Noel requested.

“You’re so used to those clothes you can’t see any other kind, huh?” Angel chuckled.

“It’s my prefered garb since it’s easy to move in.” Noel told him.

Angel then designed armored knee high boots with the stimulators and durability modules in them, coloring the boots black to resemble the YoRHa’s choice of black footwear. He outfitted the soles with powerful shock absorbers for long falls and long runs. He custom fit this set to go on Noel’s legs like gloves. Her fastest time running three laps around the YoRHa training facility’s track was five minutes and forty two seconds. They were going to see how fast she could go with the PAR boots he fashioned. She got down into position to take off as Angel readied a timer.

“Go!” he called and she took off like a rocket.

She was moving like lightning. Her legs were pushing beyond their normal limits propelling her forward. She had to have at least been making triple the normal footsteps going that fast. Angel clocked her new fastest time at one minute and forty-four seconds. Miracle couldn’t believe what she’d seen.

“How do your legs feel?” Angel asked her.

“Like I could go for hours more… it’s like the stimulators are taking some of the strain on my legs off…” Noel smiled catching her breath.

“Well I also installed military-grade shock absorbers into the soles to make the footsteps of running at top speed about 90% less strenuous. You can in theory withstand harder falls than normal too.” Angel explained.

“I’d say they’re overachieving at their job then.” she sighed with a satisfied look tapping her left foot on the ground.

“Next is the body armor to connect them… and the moment of truth, if the arms and legs play nice when used on the same body.” Angel smiled.

Angel took one of Noel’s spare uniforms to use as the base, since she wanted it to look like it. He removed the skirt and sleeves first, and then proceeded with modification. He used black metal to mod the chest and white for the lower half, to maintain the original look. He carefully implemented shock absorbers into the armor along with durability modules. It was a little heavier now but nonetheless it would provide greater protection against attacks. He reattached the skirt for aesthetics and then presented the finished product to Noel. 

“I admit that I definitely feel safer in this version.” Noel told him.

“Of course, there’s only one way to test if it’ll help against machines. I called my mom to come here for that purpose.” Angel explained to her.

“A real test if it’ll guard me against direct hits…” Noel nodded.

“What did you need, Angel?” 2B asked as she entered the room.

“I need you to punch Noel’s armor as hard as you can.” Angel replied.

“A strange request…” 2B stated.

“We need to know for sure that it can handle intense impact.” Noel tried to convince her.

“You’re absolutely sure? You could wind up with some broken ribs or ruptured organs.” 2B asked.

“There’s no turning back now. Not when the enemy can attack at any moment.” Noel nervously replied.

“Very well then. I can’t and won’t be held responsible if you do get injured though.” 2B sighed.

Noel nervously braced herself as 2B readied her fist. 2B hit her and she flew back to the wall cracking it heavily. Noel was shaky but seemed able to move. Angel helped her up and she smiled.

“That definitely hurt, but other than the force behind the punch the pain is comparable to a punch from the other girls.” Noel told him.

“Her punch still hurt you through the armor but the damage was significantly reduced… that means the armor is a keeper.” Angel smiled.

“Is that all that you needed?” 2B asked.

“Yeah. We now know that if she can take a direct hit from a YoRHa unit then she can take a direct hit from the enemy.” Angel replied with a confident smile.

“I see. You’re using us as a baseline to reach with your armor’s resistance.” 2B pieced together.

“This leaves just putting it together.” Angel sighed with satisfaction.

That night he put the three pieces together using a garter belt to attach the boots and carefully sewed the sleeves to the suit’s shoulders. This would be the definitive, female model, PAR if it worked. Morning came and Noel was earlier than normal. She was eager to try out the PAR’s finished form.

“It all fits like a glove and it’s comfortable despite the slight increase to weight.” Noel smiled stretching in her new outfit.

“Nothing feels weird? You’re completely okay?” Angel asked her.

“I feel much better actually. The stimulators are really making my muscles feel loose and ready to go into action at a moment’s notice.” Noel replied.

“Moment of truth then. I spent all night making an obstacle course for testing the PAR’s capabilities.” Angel smiled gesturing to a metal door with another door only a few feet to the left from it.

Noel entered the first door and began to make her way through the course. She was fast, walls couldn’t stand in her way, and no jump was too high. Noel felt like she was a superhero. She could punch and kick through any drone that came at her. When she reached the end of the course she was breathing heavily with adrenaline pumping through her.

“That was amazing.” Noel smiled wide.

“The PAR can officially be called perfected.” Angel sighed with satisfaction.

Noel pulled Angel into a deep kiss in her excitement. It appeared that a side effect of the PAR was a guaranteed adrenaline high. Miracle blushed covering her eyes at the sight. She startled Angel by pinning him down with a smile on her face. Noel was a little red in the face as Noel smiled down at him. Miracle couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“I feel like… trying something experimental…” Noel told him.

“I somehow doubt this would be the place for that.” Angel nervously replied.

“Hypothesis: The finished PAR system causes a change in the human brain possibly due to the level of muscle stimulation sending sensations of relaxation to the brain, causing one to lower their guard.” Denise spoke.

“That’d explain her increased athleticism while using the PAR.” Angel mused.

“Does that also explain why she’s being so affectionate?” Miracle asked.

“Theory: The feeling of her muscles being relaxed at all times makes her feel more comfortable expressing herself, likely giving her a heightened sense of security.” Denise spoke.

“Do we really have to wait those two years…?” Noel asked Angel as she nuzzled his neck.

“Yes.” he adamantly replied gently pushing her back holding her shoulders.

“That’s no fun…” Noel pouted.

“Denise, note that we need to find a way to tweak the stimulation level… she’s acting unusually cute.” Angel ordered.

“Noted and scanning data files for possible fixes.” Denise replied.

Angel faced a whole new challenge while he tried to tweak the outfit - trying to keep Noel from acting like a cat as he worked. He couldn’t ask Noel to strip in her current state or risk an entirely new bad situation if someone were to visit the lab. With Denise’s help he tweaked each of the stimulators. She was wriggling trying to turn him on the whole time until she suddenly froze…

“Why was I trying to do something so immoral in a place like this…? Have I lost all shame…?” Noel asked appearing to be at a loss.

“Good. you’re back to your senses… luckily I only had to reduce the stimulation by one level per stimulator. You’ll still be much more athletic than normal but the boost is reduced by roughly 5% for a total athletic boost of 35%. It was originally 40% by Denise’s calculations based on all of your recorded physical records.” Angel replied with a sigh.

“Anything significant is helpful.” Noel assured him.

“Now to custom fit the other girls.” Angel smiled.

One by one he had the girls bring in one of their uniforms to be turned into a PAR. They all seemed to be pleased with their new outfits. The time came for Angel to begin making one for himself as the girls all tested the limits of their suits. Experimentation with the leftover gems would have to wait for now as he observed the PAR for unexpected problems.

In the nearby forest something was tearing through the trees. The local wildlife was stampeding from it. Whatever it was had the YoRHa scout units on the run as well. The entity was headed straight for headquarters…


End file.
